Monday, September 30, 2013

The
image shows that in comparison to the volume of the globe the
amount of water on the planet is very small - and the oceans are only a
"thin film" of water on the surface.The blue spheres represent all of Earth's water, Earth's liquid fresh water, and water in lakes and rivers

The
largest sphere represents all of Earth's water, and its diameter is
about 860 miles (the distance from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Topeka,
Kansas). It would have a volume of about 332,500,000 cubic miles (mi3) (1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers (km3)).
The sphere includes all the water in the oceans, ice caps, lakes, and
rivers, as well as groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in
you, your dog, and your tomato plant.

Water has a place in the Australian Curriculum: Geography, appearing as a distinct topic in Year 7 (Water in the world) and as an important component of Year 4 in relation to the content description: "natural resources provided by the environment, and different views on how they can be used sustainably." Water has a further focus in the curriculum in the Year 10 'Environmental change and management' topic, where students can choose to study 'inland water' as an option to explore sustainability issues.

The image above showed us the relative amount fresh water on the Earth, but where is the water on Earth?

As the CEO of World Vision, Tim has done more than just talk, he has got his people to create wonderful resources to support geographical education (and other learning areas) in schools. Since the publication of the Australian Curriculum: Geography these resources have been linked into the year levels of the new curriculum. If you go to the School Resources page of the website you will see that there is a fantastic array of engaging and relevant resources for the teaching of the Australian Curriculum: Geography. Just do a search to see what you find. Just to name a few, the topics include: Child Rights, Disasters, Global Food Crisis, Climate change, Global inequalities, Overseas Aid, Water, Refugees and Migration. The site also contains numerous country profiles, simulations, videos and posters etc.

Of special note is the recently released resource from World Vision (co-badged by AGTA) titled 'Australia's Engagement with Asia: Indonesia'. The resource contains case studies on water, food, urbanisation and human wellbeing. The resource includes six DVD chapters with related texts and worksheets developed by World Vision and AGTA. This is an excellent resource, highly relevant to the Australian Curriculum: Geography (you will never be able to eat cashew nuts the same again!) . The resource can be downloaded from the World Vision site for free.

As a priority in the development of the Australian Curriculum, the cross curriculum priority of Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia was given a focus. As stated in the online materials the Australian Curriculum: Geography provide students with "rich contexts
to investigate the interrelationships between diverse places, environments and
peoples in the Asia region.

The
Australian Curriculum: Geography also enables students to study Asia as an
important region of the world. Students can explore groups of countries,
individual countries, or specific regions and locations within countries. In
doing so, they develop knowledge and skills that help foster intercultural
understanding as they come to appreciate the diversity that exists between and
within the countries of Asia, and how this diversity influences the way people
perceive and interact with places and environments.

Students
also learn about the ways in which Australia and Asia are interconnected, both
environmentally and socially, and how transnational collaboration supports the
notion of shared and sustainable futures within the Asia region."

To support the teaching of this Cross-Curriculum priority the Asia Education Foundation (AEF) has developed a suite of excellent resources for teaching and learning with the Australian Curriculum: Geography. From F-10, resources include:* Foundation: Special places* Year 3: Images of Indonesia* Year 5: Life in a floating village* Year 6: Connecting to Asia* Year 6: Seeing beyond Asia* Years 7: Damming the Yangtze at Three Gorges* Years 7-8: Jakarta faces* Year 7-8: Why dam the Mekong River* Year 8: Urban growth in China* Year 9: Shanghai: A city on the move* Year 9: South Korea: Creating a sustainable giant* Year 10: Measuring well-beingThe following two units of work relevant to the Australian Curriculum: Geography are also worth a look:

Another new
map creation tool has become available recently which has great application
to the geography (and humanities) classroom. This Internet based mapping program is called Stepmap and is marketed as a
free (to schools), fast and simple tool to create customised maps. The program
is worth a look and certainly is a great free mapping tool for primary schools and
many junior secondary classes.

The following useful videos from the Setmap site will get you underway using the program.

A very worthwhile section of the site is the Map Directory. The Map Directorycontains all Maps created and published by
StepMap users sorted by region or topic. Browse it to get inspired and see how
others use the tool to customise Maps.

As the above videos outline, StepMap enables students to create personal, interactive and individual maps for topics of their choice.
They can add various pieces of information such as images, videos,
descriptions, audio files and more to any location on the map. Routes can also
be added, areas marked and icons placed. The creation and
customising of maps in Stepmap by students could be for describing their latest
holiday route, a news story or simply to visualise information that's
interesting to you and your friends or colleagues. In short, StepMap enables students to use maps in a way to be
the central piece of their education

Please note: Schools,
universities, teachers and students can use StepMap and the map download
features for free (incl. the high resolution download). In order to activate
those free premium features you need to write an Email to info@stepmap.com
including your StepMap username. About the conditions of use of Stepmap

I certainly recommend you to have a go at using Stepmap and suggest it could be an answer to find a user friendly mapping tool for primary classrooms (and others).

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Who am I?

I have taught history, geography and civics and citizenship in the South Australian education system since 1976. I have been actively involved in the promotion of geography and history over the years, in particular the use of spatial technology in schools. I am a Past Chair of the Australian Geography Teachers' Association (Chair 2008-13) and Immediate Past President of the Australian Alliance of Associations in Education (2013-present). During the development of the Australian Curriculum: Geography I was a member of the ACARA Advisory Panel (2009-2013) and Executive Director of the ESA GeogSpace project. From 2007-2011 and in 2015 I was the Manager for the Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) in the South Australian Department for Education and Child Development (DECD). Presently I am a Teaching Academic in HaSS Education at the University of South Australia and the Manager for the Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize in DECD.